甄 (zhēn): surname Zhen, to distinguish, to evaluate

甄 (zhēn) is a Chinese character meaning “to distinguish.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 垔 (phonetic) and 瓦 (semantic). It ranks #3901 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 甄 pottery. Its radical form 瓦 (tile) appears in many related characters such as 瓶 (píng, bottle), 瓷 (cí, chinaware), 瓦 (wǎ, roof tile).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. surname Zhen
  2. to distinguish
  3. to evaluate

Etymology & Origin

甄

pictophoneticpottery

Decomposition: ⿰垔瓦 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Practice writing 甄 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
甄选verbzhēn xuǎnto select
甄别verbzhēn biéto screen
甄别考试zhēn bié kǎo shìto screen
甄用zhēn yòngto employ by examination
甄试nounzhēn shìselection test
推甄tuī zhēnto recommend a student for admission to a higher-level school
甄录zhēn lùto employ by an examination
甄审verbzhēn shěnto screen and select (candidates etc)
甄训zhēn xùn(Tw) to identify (talented individuals) and give them training
甄拔zhēn báto select
甄综zhēn zōngto comprehensively appraise and select
陶甄táo zhēnto mold and educate people
甄陶verbzhēn táoto make sth of clay
甄汰zhēn tàito eliminate by examination
甄藻zhēn zǎoto discern talent
15
Total compounds
87
As first character
13
As last character
0
As middle character

甄 appears in 15 compound words: 87 as the first character, 13 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

爱范儿Oct 2026

此前,交个朋友直播间已对同款产品启动退款,罗永浩连续发文追问东方甄选的处理方式。

cǐ qián , jiāo gè péng yǒu zhí bō jiān yǐ duì tóng kuǎn chǎn pǐn qǐ dòng tuì kuǎn , luó yǒng hào lián xù fā wén zhuī wèn dōng fāng zhēn xuǎn de chǔ lǐ fāng shì .

Previously, the “Make Friends” livestream had already initiated refunds for the same product, and Luo Yonghao posted a series of messages pressing Dongfang Zhenxuan for details on how they were handling the situation.

爱范儿Sep 2026

他又称,团队调查显示东方甄选也销售同款产品,且销售规模更大,要求外界关注其退赔安排。

tā yòu chēng , tuán duì diào chá xiǎn shì dōng fāng zhēn xuǎn yě xiāo shòu tóng kuǎn chǎn pǐn , qiě xiāo shòu guī mó gèng dà , yào qiú wài jiè guān zhù qí tuì péi ān pái .

He also stated that the team’s investigation revealed that Dongfang Zhenxuan was also selling the same product on a larger scale, and called on the public to pay attention to its refund and compensation arrangements.

少数派Sep 2026

可是市面上的猎头已是鱼龙混杂,对求职者来说甄别难度也越来越大。

kě shì shì miàn shàng de liè tóu yǐ shì yú lóng hùn zá , duì qiú zhí zhě lái shuō zhēn bié nán dù yě yuè lái yuè dà .

However, the recruitment industry is now a mixed bag, making it increasingly difficult for job seekers to distinguish the good from the bad.

爱范儿Aug 2026

写作时间是省下了,但甄别有效信息却要消耗更多的时间。

xiě zuò shí jiān shì shěng xià le , dàn zhēn bié yǒu xiào xìn xī què yào xiāo hào gèng duō de shí jiān .

It saves time on writing, but it takes more time to filter out the relevant information.

爱范儿Aug 2026

天权与东方甄选先后就直播言论道歉,江小白认为道歉没有完整回应直播中的贬损内容。

tiān quán yǔ dōng fāng zhēn xuǎn xiān hòu jiù zhí bō yán lùn dào qiàn , jiāng xiǎo bái rèn wéi dào qiàn méi yǒu wán zhěng huí yīng zhí bō zhōng de biǎn sǔn nèi róng .

Tianquan and Dongfang Zhenxuan have both apologized for remarks made during their livestreams, but Jiang Xiaobai believes the apologies did not fully address the derogatory content in the livestreams.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 瓦 (pottery) component

瓦 Radical Family — Characters sharing the tile radical

Related Characters

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 甄 (zhēn) mean in Chinese?
甄 (zhēn) primarily means "to distinguish." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3901 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 甄 have?
甄 is written with 13 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 甄?
The radical associated with 甄 is 瓦 (tile). This radical appears in many characters related to tile.
What are the components of 甄?
甄 is composed of: 垔 (phonetic), 瓦 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰垔瓦 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 甄?
Common words with 甄 include: 甄选 (zhēn xuǎn, "to select"); 甄别 (zhēn bié, "to screen"); 甄别考试 (zhēn bié kǎo shì, "to screen"); 甄用 (zhēn yòng, "to employ by examination"); 甄试 (zhēn shì, "selection test"). There are over 15 compound words containing this character.
Is 甄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 甄 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 甄 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.